Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates generally to wireless communication systems and, more particularly, to coexistence on unlicensed frequency bands of wireless communication systems.
Description of the Related Art
Unlicensed frequency bands are portions of the radiofrequency spectrum that do not require a license for use and may therefore be used by any device to transmit or receive radiofrequency signals. For example, the Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (UNII) is formed of portions of the radio spectrum that include frequency bands in the range of 5.15 gigahertz (GHz) to 5.825 GHz. For another example, the industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) radio bands are portions of the radio spectrum that are reserved internationally for unlicensed communication. The ISM radio bands include bands with a center frequency of 2.4 GHz and a bandwidth of 100 megahertz (MHz), a center frequency of 5.8 GHz and a bandwidth of 150 MHz, and a center frequency of 24.125 GHz and a bandwidth of 250 MHz, among other frequency bands. Unlicensed frequency bands can be contrasted to licensed frequency bands that are licensed to a particular service provider and may only be used for wireless communication that is authorized by the service provider.
Wireless communication devices that transmit or receive signals in licensed or unlicensed frequency bands are typically referred to as nodes, which may include Wi-Fi access points that operate according to IEEE 802.11 standards in the unlicensed spectrum. For example, Wi-Fi access points may operate according to IEEE Standard 802.11ac™-2013 or IEEE Standard 802.11n™-2009, which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. Nodes also include base stations that operate in the licensed spectrum according to standards such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) standards defined by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). Base stations that operate according to LTE can implement supplementary downlink (SDL) channels in the unlicensed spectrum to provide additional bandwidth for downlink communications to user equipment that are also communicating with the base station using channels in a licensed frequency band. For example, the base station may operate according to the LTE-U SDL Coexistence Specifications v1.3 (2015), which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The licensed frequency bands may be referred to as LTE-L bands and the unlicensed frequency bands may be referred to as LTE-U bands. Base stations may also operate in the unlicensed frequency bands according to Licensed Assisted Access (LAA) standards such as 3GPP TR 36.889 V13.0.0 (2015-06)-Study on Licensed Assisted Access to Unlicensed Spectrum (Release 13), which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Base stations may also operate solely in the unlicensed frequency bands without support in licensed frequency bands, e.g., according to emerging standards such as MuLTEFire.